The present invention relates to a passenger car having an engine that is mounted in the front end from which a drive shaft leads to the rear wheels of the vehicle and a fuel tank that is mounted between the vehicle seats and that extends in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. For technical background, refer, for example, to German Patent Doc. 198 41 331 A1.
Typically, the fuel tank of a passenger car is mounted in the rear of the vehicle and, thus, is situated essentially in front of or above the rear axle of the vehicle, because this installation location has proven itself as an ideal compromise between safety and structural space considerations. This installation location is also selected today for the few known passenger cars that have a liquefied gas drive, that is, for passenger cars that use a liquefied gas, such as hydrogen. However, the tank volume of liquefied gas should be larger than that of conventional gasoline or diesel tanks in order to be able to offer the passenger car a comparable range between two refueling stops.
It is known from the aforementioned German Patent Doc. 198 41 331 A1 to mount the fuel tank in a passenger car above the drive shaft that leads to the rear wheels in a raised portion of the typical so-called center tunnel in order to create additional space in, for example, convertibles for the stowage of the top. However, even this known tank configuration offers practically no expanded tank volume compared to the previously typical configuration.
An aspect of the invention provides that the tank volume on a passenger car may be enlarged.
The achievement of this aspect may be realized in that the drive shaft runs basically alongside the fuel tank from front to rear. Advantageous designs and further developments are described in the dependent claims and herein. In them, it is expressly indicated that the concept of the invention is obviously not confined to liquefy gas tanks, but may also be used in tanks for conventional fuels produced from petroleum.
If, in accordance with certain preferred embodiments of the present invention, the drive shaft that leads from the engine in the front end to the rear axle of the passenger car alongside the tank, which is oriented in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, a considerable amount of additional structural space is gained, in particular underneath, that is, towards the lane, which is then available for the configuration of the fuel tank. If, in a departure from the previously typical manner of design, the drive shaft is no longer in the center of the vehicle, but runs offset to the side from front to rear, then, even though it may be advisable to position the vehicle seats slightly higher than previously, this is unproblematic because there is sufficient structural space in elevation in a passenger vehicle. An exhaust system of the engine, which is designed as an internal combustion engine, may then run from front to rear along the side of the fuel tank that is opposite the drive shaft in an almost symmetrical disposition with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.
In order to best utilize the structural space that is available in terms of width, that is, in a plane running perpendicular to the driving direction and transverse to the vehicle, and thereby make available sufficient seating space, the fuel tank may be more narrowly configured in its upper section than in its geodetically lower section. The so-called xe2x80x9ctop sectionxe2x80x9d of the fuel tank is thus located directly between the seats, which are mounted next to each other in the vehicle interior, while the so-called xe2x80x9clower sectionxe2x80x9d may be situated basically beneath the vehicle seats. Thus, the fuel tank may have an approximately pear-shaped cross-section, which is especially advantageous from the standpoint of toughness, if the fuel tank is designed to hold liquefied gas, especially liquefied hydrogen. Finally, it may be advisable to permit an interior pressure of several bar for such a tank.
Also proposed is an advantageous disposition of a gear reduction manual transmission between the engine and the rear wheel drive shaft, which is advantageous with respect to both the utilization of structural space and the transmission of the torque of the vehicle engine to the vehicle rear axle.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.